The Home for Odd, Ugly and Neglected Toys

You see, I never really knew about the New Adventures of He-Man cartoon as a kid. I never watched the show or knew the characters or anything like that. I was already out of my Masters of the Universe toy phase, but that didn’t mean I still didn’t like looking around the toy store. My first (and last) exposure to “New Adventures” was on the shelves in a toy store. I still have a vague memory of strolling through the toy aisles of said store and seeing, hanging from the pegs in bold, gold type,”He-Man.” But once I saw what the He-Man figures were, I was a bit surprised, confused and disappointed. The characters were all new, they were a smaller scale, and they were not as freakishly muscular as I’d come to expect. It made no sense. It was traumatic I tell you.

Seriously. This new bastardized He-Man sucked. It seems that there was so much of a distaste for scrawny He-Man, that Mattel eventually released a couple more versions of him which you may notice grew more and more muscular.

Ha! He still looks pretty crappy but at least he’s transforming to the steroid-ridden He-Man. That’s the way we like him.

Well, I’m well beyond the whole purpose of this post. I’ll just say the new He-Man sucked. but it’s been a long time since those days, and looking at the line now with my weirdo-collector eyes, I can actually see the value in some of the “He-Man” toy designs – mainly the villains and especially this villain, Optikk (clever name huh?).

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You are looking at one of the freakiest He-Man villains ever created. His head is a giant, pulsing eyeball for cryin’ out loud, and it’s staring through your soul!

This is a testament to the fan-following this guy has garnered over the years. He looks pretty cool, but I figured I’d show you the original.

We’re going back to 1990.

Let’s start with the packaging.

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Ah. Good, old fashioned paintings of characters. I’ll always, always enjoy that. Thanks Mattel, for supporting some illustrators. (but I have noticed you’re re-using the same vintage art for the MOTUC lines. Just hire a guy to do new stuff, so it can be consistent.)

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Well, to start things off, I’ll just say, “Ugh.” Look at that freaky eyeball just staring at you. Creepy, huh?

According to his bio Optikk’s a “Bad-tempered goon squad cyborg from the foggy polar region of evil planet Denebria. Has a spyball eyeball that lets him see through almost anything.”

Ok. So he has the huge eyeball to see through the fog. I get it. His “people” have evolved to this point I guess. Giant eyeball heads.

Secondly, as you may have noticed on the package, Optikk has “Masters Action,” and his action happens to be a “quick-draw” move.

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It’s cool and all that he draws a gun on you, but it’s really, really lame that his arm is in a permanent, “I’m gonna bust a cap in yo ass” position. To “activate” his quick-draw action, you simply hold his arm down and let go when it’s time for him to shoot. You’re screwed if you ever lose the gun. You’ll be stuck with a guy who just kind of holds his arm out there.

But he has another action that makes up for the lame, rigor mortis arm.

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Just spin the dial on his back…

and his eyeball moves!!

In case you can’t figure it out, Mattel has provided some step-by-step instructions.

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Optikk’s fairly poseable too. He has various ball joints and hinges and such. Pretty fancy compared to the old MOTU figures.

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When all is said and done though, the guy is pretty neat. He looks like a steam-punk astronaut or robot or something… with an eyeball for a head. It really seems like a poor armor design to keep your most vulnerable body part completely open to attacks. Maybe Mattel should’ve made a dorky helmet for his eye or a battle-armor contact lens.

Well, Optikk, thanks for justifying the existence of the He-Man toyline. Best of luck with your MOTUC release.

21 Responses

I really wish I had one of these. I love the design. It’s weird, it’s freaky, but for some reason I dig it – a lot. That being said, I don’t like the re-release version as much as I do the vintage design. I’ll have to keep my eye open (*guffaw*) for the old one at flea markets.

Yeah, he really is an interesting-looking character.
Good luck with the flea market search. I’ve noticed a trend with this guy. Ever since Mattel announced the figure’s inclusion in the new MOTUC line, the price of the original figure is steadily climbing. I’m glad I picked mine up a couple of years back when he was a relatively unknown.

This is some awesome coverage of Optikk!
Great photos, animated gif, and news of
the upcoming Mattycollector.com release of
Optikk. I really hope to get one on May 17th
to add to my eyeball oriented toy collection.

I totally agree with you about how lame it
is that Optikk’s arm holding the gun is forced
to always end up in the position of shooting
straightforward. I guess someone was thinking
that kids would want their toy to be able to
outdraw other figures so a super-spring-loaded
arm was worked into the figure.

If an army of these guys invaded Earth I would
be sure to play movies of the 3 Stooges so
everyone would be equipped to knock out the
Optikks with a good ol’ Moe poke to the eye
Nyuck Nyuck Nyuck 😛

Nice! So his name is Optikk, eh? I always called him Eyeguy. He has been on display in my “Weirdo Randoms” shelf on and off since I got him on a family vacation way back when. Looks great next to the Warrior Nun Lilith figure and her Eyeball-headed demon!
Another great one is the Mr. Freeze-meets The Lizard guy.

And I actually love New Adventures of He-Man stuff. I contend that if it didn’t have the name He-Man attached to it, I think it would be a pretty popular toy line in its own right. I actually just picked up the child-sized Skeletor Staff (over three feet long! according to the box) at a toy show, and I love it.

My mom actually was the one who convinced me to pick up this figure as a kid, since her brother/my uncle is an ophthalmologist. At least I think that was the reasoning. Whatever the case, my uncle isn’t getting him.

It’s a little funny. I am too young to have watched the original He-Man series being born in ’87 and I never watched the later one either as a kid. However this is the ONLY He-Man toy I got as a kid, picked out by myself. As a child I loved monsters and aliens with a single eye and this guy was simply what I wanted. Great toy, I have him around still.

I’ll never get tired of the artwork on the figure cards either. I couldn’t stand the New Adventures of He-Man when it came out. I tried to like the show but it just wasn’t that good at all. He-Man worked best the way it was originally intended. In fact, I’m not looking forward to any of the releases of MOTU classics figures that are based on characters of the show. Even though it’s an official certified WEIRDO TOY, I’ll probably still put Optikk on ebay.

I’d like to see some new adventures characters in the future. Most notably the beast Sagitar and a figure of Mara, who was a prototype. According to Mattel, they can’t make Mara since its another rights issue and might not be worth the trouble given the low fan demand.

Ahh, yes — Optikk!! He was one of several New Adventures figures I had, and let me tell you, he was one of my top favorite toys in my lineup of several hundred toys (okay, I was spoiled because we liked garage sailing a lot in my youth). By the time I was 10, Optikk had risen quickly through the ranks of villainy to become the right hand (right eye, maybe?) man of my major villain, played by Hellspont of WildCATS (look him up, he’s awesome). And it was all due to that awesome eye dial.

Thanks for turning me onto new knowledge about a new version coming out — I will risk homelessness and purchase one immediately!!

If you can locate them, two other villains I might suggest from the line would be Staghorn and Blast-Attak (who is an original MOTU figure, and one of the ones who really intrigued me as strange as a child, making him played with all the more because of it).

I’m going to say don’t give up on that flea market search. I was at Columbus Mart in New Jersey a month ago and picked up my Optikk for a buck! No weapon but the eye and arm actions still work and the figure itself is in supreme condition!

Interesting side note, a week later, the same guy had a ‘purple belt’ Slash TMNT figure also in great condition and with all his accessories. Got him for a buck as well! And the guy isn’t a toy dealer. Just some random dude hocking his goods ha!

Kindred Spirits

Who is Weirdo Toys?

I’m Justin Gammon. I'm a designer/illustrator by day and toy-blogger by night. That'll explain my sporadic postings. What do you mean you want to write to me? That's odd. Hey, while you're at it, would you send me some cool toys? Thanks!